Thy Kingdom ComePosted on Thursday, February 16, 2006. From America’s Providential History, by Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell, published by the Providence Foundation. The authors hold courses and seminars based on the book that were attended by more than 25,000 people in 2004. Originally from Harper's Magazine, February 2005.Sources You cannot understand history without understanding Divine Providence. The whole of history can be looked at from a Biblical philosophy, because there is an overall purpose that unifies all the specific events of history. From a humanistic standpoint, there is no purpose in history and hence no unifying theme that ties the events of history together. Many modern educators deny the Providential view of history and would have us believe that their promotion of one of several “secular” views of history is simply the recounting of brute facts.

God’s plan for the nations has been unfolding in a specific geographic direction. This geographical march of history is called the Chain of Christianity or the Chain of Liberty. It seems as if God’s direction is westward. “Christian” geography (which is true geography) is the view that the earth’s origin, end, purposes, and physiography are for Christ and His glory. Like individuals, nations have a unique purpose. We will see throughout this book how God has raised up and put down nations of the world for His purposes.

Arnold Guyot, a nineteenth-century scientist and professor of geology at Princeton University, noted that God had arranged the structure of the earth to assure that the Chain of Christianity would move not south into Africa or east into Asia but westward into Europe. That which originated in Asia and developed in Europe has had its greatest fulfillment in America. Now, in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, travel and climatic barriers are being conquered by air travel and air-conditioning. It appears that the internal preparation is taking place so that the Chain of Liberty and all its external blessings might continue their westward march from America around the globe.

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During the Revolutionary War, God performed many miracles on behalf of the American army, for God desired to see America win its struggle for freedom, become a nation, and fulfill its divine purposes.

Congress sought legal redress to be reconciled with England for fourteen months even after the war had begun. It was not until December 1775, when King George rejected the colonists’ petitions and declared them all rebels and enemies, that they realized their lives, liberty, and property were no longer protected by the English government. Why the king and Parliament would treat the petitions of their own colonies in such a stupid way is incomprehensible. It can only be compared to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart so that God’s purposes might be fulfilled.

During the Civil War, the Confederate Army’s phenomenal success in almost every major battle induced Abraham Lincoln to seek God for the reasons why. He called for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer throughout the North on April 30, 1863. Interestingly, within two days, one of the most crucial Providential events of the entire war occurred: General Stonewall Jackson, who had never lost a battle, was Providentially removed from the scene. Shortly after this, on May 10, 1863, Jackson died. Had God not removed him, the outcome of the war may have been different. God had removed the stigma of slavery from this nation, and Providence now turned to a new objective: to preserve the union of the United States as one whole people.

After the war an ungodly, radical Republican element gained control of the Congress. They wanted to centralize power and shape the nation according to their philosophy. In order to do this, they had to remove the force of Calvinism in America, which was centered in the South at this time, and rid the South of its political power. This explains the strong bias against the Republican Party in the South up to recent times.

The loss of Christian character and responsibility led to the failure of many state banks in the early 1900s. In an effort to remedy this situation, power was granted to a Federal Reserve Board in 1913. But this unbiblical economic structure produced even greater problems. Within twenty years the stock market had crashed and America was in the midst of the Great Depression. With the propagation of socialism, people were ready for the “New Deal” of Franklin Roosevelt. Programs such as Social Security and other welfare agencies set up the State as provider rather than God.

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A secular society lacks faith in God’s Providence, and consequently men find fewer natural resources. The secular or socialist has a limited-resource mentality and views the world as a pie (there is only so much) that needs to be cut up so that everyone can have a piece. In contrast, the Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God’s earth.

While many secularists view the world as overpopulated, Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large, with plenty of resources to accommodate all the people He knew would come into existence. All the 5 billion people on the earth could live in the state of Texas in single-family homes with front and back yards and be fed by production in the rest of the United States.

The goal of America’s Providential History is to equip Christians to be able to introduce Biblical principles into the public affairs of America, and every nation in the world, and in so doing bring Godly change throughout the world. As we learn to operate nations on Biblical principles, we will be bringing liberty to the nations of the world and hence fulfilling part of God’s plan.